Pulp washer



H. M. BARNETT ET AL Sept. 24, 1946.

PULP WASHER Filed March 27, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 JNVENTORS eonzermas/1::

- JBY 1 Sept. 24, 1946.

H. M. BARNETT ET AL PULP WASHER Filed March 27, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mi H NW N v mm R 0 WO 5 A \N.\ m N W W a 4 8 a mn h xv.

\Q E \W .5 a Q5 Q m rllll Q vfih Q hm Patented Sept. 24, 1946 Harold M.Barnett,

Long Beach, and-Rupert G'.

Masher, Downey, Calif.; saidMo'shfer assignor to said BarnettApplication March 27, 1944, Serial No; 528,248

'6 Claims, (01. 100-37) 'I his invention relates. to-a machine. forwashing out enmeshedv particlesfrom vegetable pulp and the like. I

:Ou-r'machine is particularly adapted for washing outcarotene-containing particles from pulpedicarrots and. the: like." Thecarotene of V carrots: and. of other? carotene-containing vegetables,is, for the most part, segregated inthe vegetable in concentratedparticlespor crystals, enmeshediinthe. cellular plant. structure. Whenthe fibrous cellular structure of, the carrot is to'the' accompanyingdrawings forming part of f these specifications in which Fig. 1 is aplan view of one form of our machine;

Fig; 2 is a; side-elevation of the same;

Fig. 3 isa side elevation from the opposite side from Fig: 2, withcertain details omitted to bett'ei'; show the arrangement" of drivingmeans;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional' View taken on the liner-+4 of'Fig. 2';

5 is a cross s'ectionaljview' taken on the line 5-5 ofFig. 2; t Fig, 6'is. a cross-sectiontof a portion of the foraminous belt showingwdetails-thereof.

In general our machine consists of a horizontal foraminous conveyor beltupon which a pulpedi vegetable material is delivered from a mill-, .withrollers. for successively squeezing out the liquid naturally in the pulpand also that which issprayed upontthe pulp as it passes on the beltintermediatethe rollers, with means for turning over and agitating thepulp, and for collecting liquid.- with suspended solids. which passthrough the belt. Referring to the drawings-the foraminous belt l l issupported in horizontal' position on end rollers [land i3 mountedonrshafts l4 and 15. The shaft I4, at the discharge end of the machine,is supported by bearings 11 attached to end vertical members 18 and 19'of the-main frame of the machine, and the. shaft is extended formounting drive pulleys-26 and. 21 as detailed below. The shaft 15,at-the'feed. end of the belt is supported in bearings 22.- arranged tobe adjustably attached to themain'vframe side members 2!} and 21 bymeans of the ;belt tightener-means 23; with tightenin screws 24. Theshaft 15 is also extended for mounting thedrivepulley 25. v

The upper run rstretch of the foraminous belt 11 is supported by-rollers28, 29, '30, 31 mounted onbearings: fastened to the main framesidezmembers- Z1, and disposed so that support roller-23 is: near apress roller 35 near the dischargeend of the; machine; support rollers29 and 38' areon eitherside of intermediate press roller 35; and supportroller 31 is near feedpress rol;1er,31. The pressrollers 35, 36, and 31bear down on top of the upper stretch ofthe-belt II and are. supportedon the top frame members 40- by shafts '4 I 42, and 43, respectively, 1mounted inbearings-M. I

The-mainbelt'll is driven by a motor 48 having} a drive pulley 49 withbelt 5!] toa speed reducingpulleyfil which in turn by belt drivesthepulley; 21 attached to the shaft 14 of the roller [-3 which carriesthe foraminous belt II at thedischarge end. Press roller 35 is driventhrough its attached pulley 52- by crossed belt 53q.-from pulley; 26'onthe'shaft M of: roller l3, The feed; end roller 12 isdriven by the mainbelt 11-, and. the; pulley 25 onits shaft 15 drives the press roller 31through its. attached pulley 41 by crossedbelt 53. The intermediatepress roller 36 is. driven by the pulley 46 on its shaft 42 by belt54;,from: another pulley 56 on. the shaft 43 of. the feed end pressroller 31-.

The'pressv-rollers 35, 36;;31 arepreferably made of; wood; and doctor orscraper blades 89,-: 51 and 58 areprovided for each to remove materialwhich sticks'totheir surfaces. A distributor 59 is-providedbehind pressroller 31 tocollect t itfinto lumpsand; redistribute it towardthecencaked'pulp scraped off the roll and break ter f the: main belt ll;likewisea distributor filhisprovidedbehind press-roller 36 for'the samepurpose. The relatively drymaterial scraped from press roller 35 dropsonto the end of belt Ill. and isremoved by a scraper 6|placed'adjacent-the-b elt as. it passes. over the eroller- 13.

Pulped" vegetable materiaL. produced in the grinder shownaconventionallyas 62,: driven by the motor 63;, is carried to the foraminous belt I-lbythe' separate conveyorwhich is shown for illustration as an inclined.belt (54 011 an upper drum $5 rotated through the pulley 66 and the belt61 andthe drive pulley 69 of the motor mounted on the main frame at thefeed end. A-scraper 10 is'provided to remove the pulp from gl'e.clolnveyor belt/6 1 and drop it on to the main lt r.

Nozzles. are arranged to. distribute water or 3 other liquids on thepulped material as it travels along with the main belt I I. As shown,fresh water from pipe 1| is sprayed on to the material following theintermediate roller 36 through nozzles 12 and 13, and is collectedbeneath the belt I! (top run) by a collecting pan 14 which drains to apump 75 which discharges into the pipe line 15, which carries thewashings or fresh water or a mixture of them, to spray nozzles 11 and18, valves 19, 88, 8|, and 82 being provided for regulating the flow ofliquid. to the several sprays. Collecting pans 83 and 84 are providedbeneath the belt II for collecting the liquid from press rollers 31 and36, and from the portion of the belt II between them, and a reservoir 85is provided for storage of the liquid from which it may be pumped, asrequired, by pump 86 to other vessels, not shown.

The main belt Il may consist of any suitable foraminous material whichhas openings of proper size to let the desired fine particles gothrough, but fine enough to hold back the undesired larger particles ofpulp. We have used various kinds of woven metallic screens but prefer arelatively coarse wire cloth belt 8'! with a cotton filter clothcovering 88 as shown in Fig. 6. This provides a non-stretching belt basehaving sufiicient strength to permit the rollers to be pressed againstit to squeeze out the liquid from the pulp, and the cotton of otherfibrous fabric may be selected for suitable fineness of openings. Thefabric may be easily'renewed.

The operation of the machine will be illustrated by its use in removingcarotene-containing particles from carrot pulp, which isdropped onto themain-foraminous belt II from the conveyor belt 64 leading from thegrinder 62, and much of its liquid content is squeezed through the beltand collects in the pans 83 and 84 below. The pulp is caked by thesqueezing action between the belt H and the press roller 31, and if thelatter i of Wood, or has a wood surface, as we prefer, the pulp adheresto the roll surface until scraped offby a doctor'blade. It falls back inlumps onto the main belt, and water or dilute washings (from laterstages) is forcibly sprayed through nozzle 18 on the lumps as these areforced toward the center portion of the belt by the distributor 59. Theother nozzles, represented as 11, are'directed toward the oncoming lumpsof more or less saturated pulp, the direction of impingement and amountof liquid being adjusted to avoiddrivin the pulp down against the clothcover 88 of the belt thereby forming a filtering bed. The colloidal orsemi-colloidal particles containing the'carotene must be mechanicallydisentangled from the pulp and separated therefrom by being forcedthrough the belt; any compacting of the pulp on the cloth is to beavoided, because the colloidal particles will be held in the mattedmaterial.

The combined effects of forming a compressed pulp solid adhering to thewooden rollers which is broken up into lumps followed by furtherbreaking down these lump with water jets to effect a maximum mechanicalwashing out of the emneshed colloidal particles bearing the carotene,without forming a filtering mat on the foraminous belt are important tothe success of this process for separating carotene.

The wetted pulp is then passed through the intermediate press roll 36,squeezing out the Water and the suspended colloidal carotene particles,which are collected in the pan 84; the pulp is again caught up by thewood roller and scraped off, and the broken lumps sprayed by fresh waterfrom nozzle 12. The lumps are steered toward the center of the belt IIby the distributor 60, and further forcibly sprayed, as before, by waterjets from nozzles l I. The water is finally squeezed out by passin thepulp under press roll 35, the semi-dry pulp cake being scraped off thewooden roll by scraper 89, and then dropped onto the belt H, and finallyremoved by the scraper 6| as the belt passes over the discharge rollerl3. The liquid which goes through the belt ll between press rolls 35 and36, and that which is squeezed out by the press roll 35, is collected inthe pan 14, and since this is usually dilute in carotene suspension, itmay be recirculated by the pump 15 to pipe line 16, where it again isused to wash out carotene from the fresher material. It is important ,inthe subsequent concentration of carotene that it be associated with aminimum amount of water. In starting, or at other times, as may bedesired, fresh water may be used in all or a selected portion of thespray nozzles.

While we have described a preferred form of our invention, we do notwish to be limited to the particular embodiment described, but restrictour invention only insofar as required by the prior art and the spiritof the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a vegetable pulp washing machine of the class described,the'combination of a foraminous conveyor belt, end pulleys for saidbelt, upper and lower pressing rollers extending across the top run ofsaid belt adapted topress therebetween vegetable pulpucarried on itssurface, scraping distributors-following each of said upper rollersexcept thelast one adapted to break up the caked pulp and toredistribute it on said belt, and hydraulic sprayers disposed betweensaid upper rollers adapted to hydraulically agitate and to wash the pulpon said belt.

2. In a vegetable pulp washing machine of the class described, thecombination of a foraminous conveyor belt, end pulleys for said belt,upper wood-surfaced rollers extending across the top run of said beltadapted to press upon vegetable pulp carried on its surface and to pickthe caked pulp off the belt, means to scrape the cake off said upperrollers, distributors following each of said rollers except the last oneadapted tobreak up the caked pulp and to redistribute it on said belt,and hydraulic sprayers disposed between said upper rollers adapted tohydraulically agitate and to wash the pulp on'said belt.

3. In a vegetable pulp washing machine of the class described, thecombination of a foraminous conveyor belt, end pulleys for said belt,upper rollers extending across the top run of said belt adapted to pressupon vegetable pulp carried on its surface, distributors following eachof said rollers except the last one adapted to break up the caked pulpand to redistribute it to the center portion of said belt, hydraulicsprayers disposed between said rollers adapted to hydraulically agitateand to wash the pulp on said belt, and means to collect the liquidpassing through the top run of said belt.

4. In a vegetable washing machine of the class described, thecombination of a foraminous conveyor belt, end pulleys for said belt,upper woodsurfaced rollers extending across the top run of said beltadapted to press upon a vegetable pulp carried on its surface and topick the caked pulp off the belt, means to scrape the cake off'saidrollers, distributors following each" of said rollers except the lastone adapted to break up the caked pulp and to redistribute it to thecenter portion of said belt, hydraulic sprayers disposed between saidrollers adapted to hydraulically agclass described, the combination of aforaminous conveyor belt, end

pulleys for said belt, upper wood-surfaced rollers extending across thetop run of said belt adapted to press upon a vegetable pulp carried onits surface and to pick up the caked pulp off the belt, means to scrapethe cake off said rollers, distributors following each of said rollersexcept the last one adapted to break up the caked pulp and toredistribute it to the center portion of said belt, hydraulic sprayersdisposed between said rollers adapted to hydraulically agitate and toWash the pulp on said belt, pans to separately collect the liquidthrough selected portions of the top run of said belt, and pumping meansadapted to recirculate the liquid 6 collecting in some of said pansthrough a of said sprayers.

- 6. In a vegetable pulp washing machine of the class described, thecombination of a foraminous" belt, end pulleys for said belt, upper woodsurfaced rollers extending across the top run of said belt adapted topress upon, a vegetable pulp carried on its surface and to pick thecaked pulp off the belt, means to scrape the cake off said rollers,distributors following each of said rollers except the last one adaptedto break up the caked pulp and to redistribute it on said belt, liquidsprayers disposed between said rollers adapted to-hydraulically agitateand to Wash the pulp on said belt, pans to separately collect the liquidpassing through the top run of said belt in the feed portion and in theremaining discharge portion of the belt, hydraulic means to deliverfresh water to said sprayers other hydraulic means to recirculate theliquid collected in said discharge end pan to said sprayers over saidfeed end pans.

HAROLD M. BARNE'IT.

RUPERT C. MOSHER.

portion over the discharge end pan, and

